When Irvin Mayfield was a young NOCCA student, his drive to and from school often took him by a prominent house in the Fontainebleau neighborhood. Built in the 1920s, it wasn't the biggest home in the area, but it had a magisterial presence, perched in a bend of Broadway Street.

Oriented at an angle, like a portrait in profile, the terracotta tile-roofed home is a stately study of Spanish Revival and Mediterranean styles, with hints of Greek Revival thrown in. Its side flank, with rows of mullioned windows, overlooks the bustle of Broadway, while the front door faces a quiet, private cul de sac.

In his social circle growing up, Mayfield wasn't the home's only admirer. His "very first high school girlfriend," he said, "always wanted to buy this house."

He beat her to it.

The 36-year-old trumpeter/orchestra leader/entrepreneur/professor/Grammy winner bought the house 4-1/2 years ago from his friend Kim Dudek, owner of Belladonna Day Spa. In Mayfield's telling, it was inevitable.

When Dudek lived there, "I came to see it, and she knew I fell instantly in love with it," he said. "She told me, 'This house is meant to have a lot of life, it needs to entertain.'"

Mayfield has fully embraced that idea.

Opening the doorsAbout once a month, Mayfield hosts a Sunday afternoon house party, turning his airy living room into a concert stage. Ellis and Wynton Marsalis, Cyril Neville, George Porter and the Zion Harmonizers have all performed in the sunny spot under the mullioned windows, as has the late trumpeter Lionel Ferbos, who last year was still wowing crowds at 102 years old.

Last month, it was Kermit Ruffins and the Barbecue Swingers' turn, and the mood -- and the music -- was upbeat. Just two hours earlier, the Saints had won their first -- and so far only -- game of the season. Ruffins limbered up the crowd with a jazzy version of "Crunk."

Mayfield, dressed in dark denim, a New Orleans Public Library T-shirt and tribal tattoos on his forearms, mingled with guests, as he sipped Cabernet from a stemmed glass.

The crowd was large -- a multi-generational mix, some colleagues, some friends, some neighbors -- with folks spilling from the living room into the dining room, foyer and library. A gaggle of kids sat cross-legged on the floor next to a Styrofoam ice chest filled with long neck beers for the band. A woman perched on the end of a sofa, cooling herself with a lace-trimmed fan.

Sponsored by the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, which Mayfield founded in 2002, the house parties revive the old tradition of live music pouring from private parlors.

"The house parties are about sharing," Mayfield said. "I want my neighbors to know what I do. If I was a chef, I'd cook for them ... And I want my family to be close to the cultural opportunities that are here."

Mayfield's living room is spacious, but even so, when filled with about 100 guests, perched on side chairs pulled from the dining room and leaning against walls and windows, the space feels downright intimate.

Ruffins stood in the center, between the polished grand piano and the drum set. For most of the set, Mayfield stood back in the crowd. He kissed cheeks and chatted with friends, cheering the music with an occasional "All right."

Halfway through the set, he pulled out his own horn and engaged in a friendly bout of one-upmanship with Ruffins on "Route 66."

At the end of the song, Mayfield melted back into the crowd.

A model homeOn most days, the living room is Mayfield's thinking space, where he likes to compose, both in words and music. He's working on his second coffee table book filled with personal essays and live recordings on CD. The book, "Irvin Mayfield's New Orleans Jazz Playhouse Handbook," will be released next spring by Basin Street Records.

When the weather is cool, Mayfield opens the windows and plays the piano.

The house is essentially a long rectangle. The front door opens to a foyer with a gently curving staircase and semicircular windows festooned with decorative spiderweb ironwork. To the left is the living room and dining room; to the right is the library and kitchen. Most of the doorways are topped with graceful arches.

"This house was the model house built for the neighborhood," Mayfield said. A banker was the first to buy it. Mayfield is the home's fifth or sixth owner, he believes.

Since moving in, he has moved slowly in putting his own stamp on the place. He's rehung the original shutters on the exterior (they had been stored in the garage), and converted a former breakfast room into a cozy library with built-in bookshelves filled with a mix of reading interests -- from compendiums of Gordon Parks' photography to a well-thumbed soft back of "Frenchmen Desire Good Children and Other Streets Of New Orleans," Mayfield's latest read.

He's mulling a renovation to a downstairs half-bath that's currently wallpapered in vintage botanical and zoological studies.

"Kim (Dudek) gave me some advice when I bought the house. She said, 'live in it for awhile (before making lots of changes), see how it feels, but the piano goes right there,'" Mayfield said, pointing to the living room focal point.

The living room's decor is more of a reflection of Mayfield's professional success than his personal taste. The mantle holds a slew of honors, from OffBeat magazine awards to a shiny gold Grammy. On the walls are framed photos of the trumpeter with both Presidents George Bush and Barack Obama. (Mayfield just laughs and shakes his head when asked who he enjoyed meeting more.)

"Throughout the year, my favorite spot in the house changes. I love the way you can see from window to window," Mayfield said, gesturing from the living room through the foyer to the French doors in the library. "I love the light in here."

From hotel to homeAs a kid, Mayfield's stomping grounds ranged from Uptown to Gentilly. His mother went to Greater Providence Baptist Church in Algiers, where he played the organ.

Before buying his current home, Mayfield lived for a few years in a two-bedroom suite in the Royal Sonesta, just a few floors above his club, Irvin Mayfield's Jazz Playhouse. He loved the lifestyle.

All locals should take a weekend and stay in a hotel downtown," he said. "It's such a great experience to see the city that way."

But as a divorced father of two sons (Irvin, 12, and Richard, 10), the need to move became evident, both for more space and to keep the kids from becoming Eloise.

The house, with its four bedrooms -- one was converted to a closet room with shelves, racks and a vanity before Mayfield bought the place -- was a good fit for the family.

And all these years later, the design still resonated with him, just as it did when he was a teenager.

"People in New Orleans take their architecture, like their food, very seriously. Architecture is personal," he said. "I'll never sell this house."